Malls, Arcade Games and Restaurants

      When there is nothing to do, the best thing to do is to shop, play or eat. In Las Piñas, you can do a lot of things! Starmall would be your best choice if you want to buy something good yet cheap, play arcades and eat! That would be the same with SM Center Las Piñas. In SM, the products are a bit expensive but you can be sure about the quality.

     If you only wanted to eat, there are fast food restaurants in Las Piñas. McDonald's is not only in America, Philippines has one too! And if you want something different, you can go to Jollibee, Mang Inasal, Chowking, Sbarro, KFC, Krispy Kreme, or Wendy's. A lot of things and places can be found in Las Piñas that can be used for leisure and relaxation. Convenience became a part of this city and so does the people.

Christmas: What to Eat?

     Food is one of a person's craving on Christmas. And in Las Piñas, these two are known for their taste and unbearable desire to be eaten.

     On the left is the 'puto bumbong', it is a mix of black rice, sweet or glutinous rice and plain rice then steamed in a tube to make cylindrical form. It is always topped with melted butter, coconut and muscovado sugar. It has a sweet and salty taste with a rough to a bit fine texture to the tongue. The only thing that I can say is, 'It tastes great!'.

     On the right side is the 'bibingka', it is made from rice flour, coconut milk or water, eggs and milk (probably cow's milk) and is heated in a terra cotta. It has a soft spongy texture and when topped with cheese, sugar and salted egg, it'll create a sweet-salty taste just like the puto bumbong.

     Both are equally tasty and the same, the two are rice cake delicacies. Though different from one another, the incredible taste that the two have are never different!

Christmas Eve and the Lantern Festival

   



     Christmas is the time of the year where people would celebrate, eat and have fun. But in Las Piñas, that is not the only celebration. They also celebrate the Lantern Festival wherein people will prepare lanterns or 'parol' for their areas. The streets will be filled with star-shaped lanterns hanging on the lampposts.

     Usually, a group of children are seen performing in the streets with their star-inspired costumes prior to the activities that will be held at night. The kids are students coming from a nearby school that wishes to participate in the event. After the morning and afternoon activities, some are already preparing for the mass that will be held at the St. Joseph Parish Church and some are creating huge lanterns for a contest. At night when the mass has started, the helpers would light up the Christmas lights and the lanterns to make the ambiance of the church more pleasing and beautiful.

     Right after the mass, volunteers will start presenting the lanterns that the makers made through dancing. They will dance and circle around the area to showcase the creations of the craftsmen. At the end of the program, tourists, citizens and even passers-by are taking their time lingering in the streets near the church for it is beauty that they can see. The cold breeze and the light that softly and gently flashes through the streets makes you breathe deeper and enjoy the Christmas Eve. We can say that, this could be the best festival and celebration that you can experience in Las Piñas City.

The History of the Water Lily Festival

     Las Piñas is a city near the coast that makes the area full of rivers or canals. Even if rivers are a bit of a disadvantage for the city, since it can raise it's water level that can contribute to the creation of flood, the citizens still value it. That is why when a somewhat pest-like plant grew in the riverbanks namely water lilies, the locals took action and tried to manipulate and control the propagation of the lilies. With great minds and artistic views, the people found a solution. They removed the water lilies out of the river, let it dry and because of the tough stems of the lily it can be used as a material for making baskets, slippers and bags.

   
     The people of Las Piñas did not only solved the river problems but they also created an idea that can help and give families an extra aid for financial support.
They created a business with the use of dried water lilies. Since then, the city have been celebrating the Water Lily Festival every July 27. That is the day when the idea and the product came up. And now, people are celebrating this festival to thank God for helping the people recover the cleanliness of the river and for giving them assistance in their financial aid.

   
     The Water Lily Festival consists of many contests and performances. There are pageants that focuses on clothes, gowns or dresses that are made of dried lilies, performances that uses costumes and props made of dried lilies and  shops that sells a variety of products made of dried water lilies. In all of the people's actions they made a big step on the economic scale. And to top it off, this festival is one of the things that you have to experience because it's really amazing!

Las Piñas Town Fiesta

     The Las Piñas Town Fiesta is celebrated every first Sunday of May. It was created to honor the patron saint of the city, Saint Joseph. It is held in the St. Joseph Parish Church. (My apologies for not having any pictures of the event)

Bamboo Organ Festival

Those are the members of choir singing

     Every February, a festival called Bamboo Organ Festival is held at the St. Joseph Parish Church. It is a festival that commemorates the construction of the bamboo organ inside the church.At night, the choir sings church songs and sometimes they create an intermission number singing a medley of songs. While the choir is singing, a pianist plays the organ highlighting the majestic and outstanding performance of the pianist and the bamboo organ.
     This festival is one of the festivities that you will enjoy the most. Though the climactic period of this event is the choir's and the pianist's performance alone, you will enjoy every minute down to the last second of the performance.

St. Joseph Parish Church

Interior of the church

Facade of the church

     One of the most famous churches in the Philippines is in Las Piñas, the St. Joseph Parish Church or for the local citizens they sometimes call it the Bamboo Organ Church. It was founded by Fr. Diego Cera and a bridge that leads to the church was also named before him, the Diego Cera Bridge. It has a great architectural design showing the essence of the Filipinos' adaptability to the Spanish culture. The church did not became famous just because of this but also because of the one unique instrument that the church has, the Bamboo Organ. This was the reason why the locals call it the Bamboo Organ church. Every time a mass starts, the instrument that the musician uses when the choir sings is the organ made of bamboo. The bamboo organ has a different structure compared to normal organs. It uses a wide variety of pipes to create sounds. And that makes it unique along with the church.
     As of now, the organ is still working but the tradition of creating the organ's sound was changed. Before, the organ needs a few men to pump the air bag found near the organ's pipes to produce the sound but now, they use electricity to pump the mechanism. Even though technology took over the organ's mechanism, it still creates the beautiful sounds and music that it created before.

This was taken on Christmas Eve. The city hall always displays beautiful lights every Christmas.

     This is the city hall of Las Piñas, it occupies a wide range of land area in the city. From the looks of it, the building is quite classy from it's facade. And when you try to go inside the city hall, you can observe how organized the staffs are. They are approachable and kind too.

     The governor in Las Piñas is Gov. Vergel Aguilar. This is his second time for being the governor of the city and he has a good reputation in Las Piñas.

An Introduction to Las Piñas City

Welcome!

This site serves as your guide when going into places and such.
And from this day, I will be giving you readers a good look at places that you can go to.

To start the adventure with a nostalgic feeling, let us journey to a hometown!
A hometown of mine where buildings and houses are its foundation, the city of Las Piñas.

     Las Piñas is a city inside the National Capital Region in the Philippines. It is a city of stones. In it's history, the city was, before, a stone quarry. And through this, the city was named Las Piñas meaning 'the stone'. And until now, the city that was build in a stone quarry is still holding it's ancestral idea of the city's name.

     In Las Piñas, there are a lot of places that you can go. Malls, fast food restaurants, plazas, churches and even in the sidewalks of the city can be your area for leisure and relaxation. In the start of our tour to the places in Las Piñas, you might encounter things that are unknown to you but it will become an exciting journey because of those things. Now, let our real journey to my hometown begins!